I'm running my first ever free in-person workshop for job seekers this week. It’s a hands-on workshop, not a presentation. It’s forced me to get some of my career coaching ideas and guidelines out of my head and built out as tools and worksheets. You’ve probably heard of the 80/20 rule - poshly known as the Pareto Principle if, like me, you forked out for an MBA 🙂. It’s a rough rule of thumb that seems to run through most of life. 20% of something leads to 80% of something e

Arguably, this is the most important question you’ll ever get asked in an interview. Why is it a BFD? Because this is the best, the earliest, and possibly the only opportunity you have to control the interview. You - deliberately or by accident - set the tone and direction of the interview. “Tell me about yourself.”  Too many of these answers are tl;dl. I’ve heard long rambling answers in both real and mock interviews. True confession, I can remember giving a long, meandering

𝗚𝗲𝘁 𝗢𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗜𝘁. I’ve experienced ageism during a job search. I got aged out for a younger candidate, and I’m OK with that. Let me tell you why I’m OK - and why you should be too. It’s simple. I don’t get angry or emotional about things I can’t control. There’s no point. I can’t control how old I am. My parents - either by accident or design - determined my age a long, long time ago. I didn’t have control over it then, I don’t have control over it now, and guess what? I

But they're possible, even in today's tough job market. Which is good, because I seem to be meeting more and more people who want to pivot. Just a sign of the times... I've pivoted a few times myself, there are four basic steps 1️⃣ Very obvious, but not always simple - figure out where you want to pivot to 2️⃣ Figure out your transferable skills 3️⃣ Map your transferable skills to your target industry and/or role 4️⃣ Make the pivot happen Let's talk about where to pivot to -

𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝗮 𝗱𝗼𝗼𝗿. In my experience as a career coach, the most common response to an open-ended question is "I don't know." And that’s perfectly fine. "I don't know" isn't a failure. It’s a sign that the client is feeling overwhelmed, afraid of giving a "wrong" answer, or perhaps just needs a moment. Truth is, it's not a dead end, it's an invitation to go deeper. So, how do you manage that situation? There are a few approaches. But, the most important thing is that the coa

A lack of focus in your resume?  When you’re over 40 and struggling to land interviews it’s easy to label it as ageism. And you might be right. But there are other factors too. It’s obvious, but I’ll say it anyway: The older you are, the more work experience you have. 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗯𝗲 𝗮 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺 𝗶𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗮 𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗰𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗻, 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆.  For example, Claudia is 6 years out of college, started their

So don’t bring up the less than amazing stuff from your career. Definitely be prepared to defend it, but don’t spotlight it. This is sales & marketing 101. Sales and marketing can have a bit of a dodgy reputation if we’re honest. Some companies I worked for early in my career were absolutely guilty of over-promising and under-delivering. Frequently.  But even the most ethical sales and marketing people follow these guidelines   1. Promote the benefits of the solution, not its

Many of us have felt it. It’s that nagging feeling that even though you’re ticking boxes in one area of your life, other parts are collecting dust. Maybe your career is flying — but your health, your relationships, your hobbies...not so much. Truth is, most of us are flying blind. We don't have a simple way to see the big picture. That's where the Wheel of Life comes in. It’s a simple circle - divided into segments - as spokes of a wheel. Typically there are eight spokes (or

Why is an exercise as simple as identifying your core values so powerful? The "Values Exercise" is powerful because it provides a structured yet personal path to self-awareness. Self-awareness is the cornerstone of a fulfilling life and a successful career. The exercise is broken down into three manageable steps. After your initial selection of words that matter to you, you're prompted to organize these into a maximum of five groups that make sense to you. This is where the d

I didn’t set out to be a coach. It was more like coaching found me. In a big way… So how did I get into life and career coaching? Well,...